They continue to plunge head-long in their stubborn error and misguidance.

Allah the Exalted says:

“ They swear by Allah with their most solemn oaths that, were a sign to come to them, they would most surely believe in it. Say: ‘Signs are only with Allah; and what will make you realize that even if a sign were to come they still would not believe?’ We shall turn their hearts and their eyes away, because they refused to believe the first time, and We shall leave them to wander blindly in their rebellion. Even if We were to send down the angels to them, if the dead were to speak with them, and if We were to gather before them every single thing face to face, they would never believe unless Allah so willed—but most of them are ignorant.” (al-Anʿām 6:109-111)

He also says: “Surely those against whom your Lord’s decree has already passed will never believe, even if every sign were to reach them, until they behold the painful punishment.” (Yūnus 10:96-97)

And He, majestic is He, says: “Nothing has prevented Us from sending the miracles except that the former peoples denied them. We gave Thamūd the she-camel as a visible sign, yet they wronged her; and We do not send the signs except as a warning.” (al-Isrāʾ 17:59)

He further says: “They said, ‘We will never believe in you until you cause a spring to gush for us from the earth; or until you have a garden of date-palms and grapes and make rivers flow through it in abundance; or you cause the sky to fall upon us in pieces, as you claimed, or you bring Allah and the angels before us face to face; or you have a house of gold; or you ascend to the sky—but we will not believe in your ascension unless you bring down to us a book that we can read.’ Say, ‘Glory be to my Lord! I am only a human messenger.’” (al-Isrāʾ 17:90-93)

We have discussed these verses and others like them in their proper places in the Tafsīr; all praise is due to Allah.

Yūnus and Ziyād transmit from Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of a certain scholar—an Egyptian shaykh named Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad—who reported from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr and ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that:

A group of Quraysh’s leading nobles—whose names the narrator lists—met after sunset at the rear of the Kaʿbah. They said to one another, “Send for Muḥammad; speak with him and dispute with him so that you will have done your utmost concerning him.”

So they sent word: “The chiefs of your people have gathered to speak with you.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came quickly, thinking that they had reconsidered their stance toward him, for he was eager for their guidance and pained by their obstinacy. When he sat with them they said:

“O Muḥammad, we have sent for you so that we may discharge our duty toward you. By Allah, we know of no Arab who has brought upon his people what you have brought upon yours: you have reviled the forefathers, condemned the religion, derided our judgment, insulted the deities, and split the community. There is no disgrace that you have not introduced between us.

“If what you seek by this discourse is wealth, we will gather for you from our fortunes until you become the richest among us. If you desire prestige, we will make you our chief. If you want sovereignty, we will crown you king over us. And if the being that comes to you is an attendant from the jinn—a familiar spirit that has gained mastery over you—then perhaps that is so; we will spare no expense on physicians until we cure you of it, or until we have at least done our part.”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied, “What you describe does not apply to me. I have not come to you with what I have brought seeking…"